With exactly a year gone after the Delhi gang rape that sent shudders across the nation and caused a surge of activism, three organisations that were instrumental in the protests came together in the city on Monday to discuss related contentious issues and graph the change that the activism has brought about in the past one year.
The All India Mahila Sanskritik Sanghatan in association with the All India Democratic Youth Organisation and All India Democratic Students’ Organisation, conducted a conference at the Madras University titled ‘Stop Crimes Against Women’. A number of activists and experts who took part in the conference discussed a range of topics such as ‘Feudal hangover in Indian Society’, ‘Prevalent patriarchal mindset’ and ‘Desensitising trend of teenagers’.
Speaking at the conference, renowned journalist and women’s rights activist, Kavitha Muralidharan stressed on the role of the media in disseminating public opinion. She also outlined that discrimination and prejudices were a product of the media and certain aspects of culture. She said, “The approach of the media has to be sensitised. The Tamil TV channels still use terms such as karpazhippu, which mean the women has actually ‘lost’ something and even our nursery rhymes have subtle aspects of prejudice. These stigmas start at a very young young and need to be rooted out right at the childhood stage.”
Social activist and TV Host, John Dhanraj outlined the pathology of crimes against women and said “sexual abuse in teenagers for a large part is due to their reticence about their problems and them not being comfortable about speaking them out. A change in this trend needs to be brought about where teenagers can discuss their problems and are made aware of the difference between ‘good touch and bad touch’. Also statistics show that the perpetrators are usually acquaintances such as relatives and family friends which further outlines the need for this awareness”.
Another social activist who addressed the gathering, V Sumati, said: “Change can be brought about only by students and there is a huge onus on first time voters to effect this change in a democratic fashion. Voting is not just a tedious democratic ritual but youth should form forums and discuss contentious issues based on which they must vote.”
Another scholar, B R Manjunath stressed on the importance of the protests that followed the Delhi Gang Rape and said, “This day is a very important day in the history of activism and of India as a country.”
During the conference, the organisers also released a bulletin on the chronolgy of the protest and issues that the activism had brought to light.